Food fight in the Vermont House over school lunch aid

Feb. 4, 2013

When low-income students whose family income are between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty level go through the lunch line at school, they have to pony up 40 cents. A federal program pays the rest of the tab.

Gov. Peter Shumlin said that too many of those students don’t have the 40 cents every day and they go hungry. Then, he said, they don’t learn as easily as they could.

Shumlin proposed in his 2014 budget that the state pay those students’ share. The tally would come to $396,000 if every eligible child ate lunch every school day, according to the Agency of Education.

Laurie Colgan, director of child nutrition programs with the Agency of Education, said 5,700 children would go from paying 40 cents to paying nothing under the proposal.

“It just seems like a basic, common-sense change we can make,” Shumlin said.

Last week, the House Education Committee agreed, voting to support the funding. But the vote was a surprisingly partisan 7-4. All the Republicans on the panel voted no.

House Minority Leader Don Turner, R-Milton, who is on the committee, said the Republicans don’t necessarily oppose the idea of extending the free lunch program, but they don’t think they have a good handle on Shumlin’s overall spending plans.

“We want to make sure we’re not getting piece-mealed,” he said.

Turner said he has watched in recent years as each committee supports proposals that come before its members and by the end, they add up to more than members realized.

Shumlin countered that none of his proposals are hidden. The spending for the free-lunch program was laid out clearly in his budget proposal, he said.